Lou's Year In Review: 2007

[Louise]

More South Korea!!

 

I really need to get this finished before the Europe trip next week!!! This one will just be a mini-update I'm afraid!

 

As I've said before, I'm quite fuzzy on the chronology and stuff on Korea, at this point I'm giving up somewhat and just posting pictures and giving random thoughts and memories! I'll probably skip some parks entirely.

 

 

Continuing...

 

 

Later that day, we headed off to Gyeongju World. My headache was getting worse and worse. I managed to enjoy a few rides on Phaethon (mmmm, B&M invert), really enjoy actually, it was awesome, but then I felt dead.

 

Still posed with the entrance though!

 

 

Later, over by another (I think brutal... perhaps a corkscrew??) coaster, I ran into a spider the size of my hand...

 

 

Kristen didn't seem bothered by all the heat and noise. This was the day there was a Korean tv crew in the park with us (the presenter's reaction to Phaethon was priceless), and there was so much noise in this one area... KT just sleeps right through! So jealous of babies!

 

 

The park also had a pretty great flume which Chris and I were endlessly amused by, and some messed up indoor space-themed mouse coaster which lost some of the effect by having doors open letting in light! LOL! I forget why, but I remember Elissa and I giggling a LOT getting off that coaster....

 

 

Over at the exit, after riding the TAGODA OF DEATH (which by the by, was the best ride ever built, with the best operator ever born), I headed to the first aid office. Speaking no Korean, I walked in, smiled, said "annyong haseyo (sp?!)", and made the universal gesture for "headache". The lady smiled and handed me a packet of eight painkillers, and held up two fingers. I had no clue whether she meant only take two, or how far apart I could take them... But I didn't die, so it was fine.

 

 

I love this picture. Especially the fly on Elissa's head! Sorry Elissa, I have really bad timing!!!

 

 

This evening, we ate at a little buffet restaurant. The hot rice, noodles, and soup were lovely, but I decided to avoid the fish and stuff. I'm always wary of seafood at buffets.

 

 

We missed you, Bob!

 

 

Babygirl Kristen at dinner!! Oh, and Dave's chopsticks.

 

 

My camera turned Venus, visible in the night sky when we left the restaurant, into a sperm.

 

 

On the drive to the hotel, I spotted a Young Chang piano store, and was thrilled!!! My piano is a Chang, and I adore it.

 

 

Chris and I had got absolutely soaked on the flume that afternoon. Eight hours later, I sit down in the hotel room to check my email, and leave an imprint of my jeans. Drenched, we were!

 

 

That evening, Jeff and I took a wander around the area.... We got about 200 yards down the road before we decided to turn back. I didn't feel unsafe as such, there just really wasn't the same level of comfort as in Japan, which made me sad.

 

A better update will follow this week, I promise!!

[gisco]

This has been an awesome report. I will miss you next week when your in Europe.

[Divv3k]

Glad to see you continuing with this Lou!

 

The food all looks strangely appealing to me!

[TheRapidsNerd]

Mmmm sushi.....Oh, sorry, good to see another update.

Mmm sushi.....

[Louise]

Thanks guys! I'm really determined to finish this this week, but I feel bad that my Korea reports won't be as good or as full as my earlier ones. I had fun on that trip, but I was just so sick of the sight of my camera, and so tired!

 

Anyhow, more South Korean goodness!

 

 

The following day, we headed off to Woobang Towerland in the morning. Where I didn't take any pictures, sorry!! The park is named for its huge 400-foot-ish tall tower, which you can "freefall" (except it's not really freefalling because you're on a wire... still damn cool though) from. Unfortunately, the tower didn't open until ages after we arrived at the park, and because of time constraints we had in order to fit in both the parks that day, there wouldn't be time for many of us to do it. Elissa and I had both expressed interest, but somehow we never ended up bothering going up there. I think once we had sat around for 90 minutes waiting for the Boomerang to open (LOL), we had lost all interest in walking up the hill. I seem to remember the cable cars were working intermittently if at all. Don, being the highly exercise oriented runner that he is, and Marc, who had sheer willpower I reckon, headed up there though, and got some great pictures and certificates from the experience. Definitely something I'd love to do if I ever go back to South Korea, or anywhere else.

 

 

Other things at Towerland.... Powered kiddie coaster that I didn't ride, just pointed and laughed, and two other coasters... Did both of them open in the end??? My memory has failed me again with this one. I think we got on Camel Back (rcdb helped out with this one, I seem to remember yellow track) but not Hurricane?? Or do I just not remember Hurricane?? Anyways, my general view on this park is that it could actually have been a really fun morning, except it was really fudging humid, the park was full of enormous hills which somehow managed to be uphill both ways, most things weren't open, there was nobody there, and most of us were too hot to bother moving much. LOL.

 

 

After Towerland, we headed over to the Taejon area to go to Kumdori Land. Like many of the Korean parks, this was a strange place, but very cool in a lot of ways. I've just done a bit of research on this and I *think* (at least it was implied) that the park itself was built for Expo '93 (World's Fair) that was held in Daejeon that year. However, it's also possible that the park was there first, and the World's Fair stuff was built next to it... I dunno. Regardless, the theme of that Expo was something to do with a Road To New Development, with some emphasis on "green" ways of living, which explains a lot of the stuff they had, thinking back.

 

 

Pretty gate near the park entrance. All these stunning structures, yet I seem to remember we actually entered through some kind of warehouse structure. LOL.

 

First coaster we rode was Horror Express, which was surprisingly not so horrible! Conveniently located at the exit was an air-conditioned cafe, which made myself and a few others mucho happy! But first, there are credits to be had...

 

Steve and I seem surprisingly excited to be on the lifthill of a Vekoma family coaster... Incidentally I adore this photo, it's on the privileged "to be collaged" list.

 

 

Bahahahaha, Chris and Miles are fat and made the train overshoot the station. They had to go round again. I was amused.

 

 

When the heat gets too much, the girls congregate in the A/C. And yes, we were *ALL* the girls on the Korean portion of the trip: Elissa, KT, myself, and our lovely tour guide. And 25 blokes. Talk about a sausage fest. Falafel and Ginny let us down and deserted us after Japan!!

 

 

This was the moment Kristen decided she was angry at me for some reason and started throwing things in my direction. Beware the wrath of an angry baby Alvey, seriously!!!!

 

 

Or perhaps she was just hungry? (I feel the need to point out that that's Robb's hand and not Elissa's.... )

 

 

After Jeff and I rode the log flume (kinda fun but crap I think), and Robb and I managed to cram both of us into a TINY seat of some totally random indoor-outdoor-death-inducing-random-Vekoma(?)-hell-coaster, myself, Jeff, Chris and Brian headed over to the Expo part of the park to check out the science stuff!

 

Chris and Brian had already explored a little, and had said there was what was basically "a Universe of Energy walkthrough". I was excited about this.

 

 

Gratuitous shot of Chris drinking out of a paper cone. Because paper cones are useless and cool.

 

 

Holograms never photograph very well. But these tiny ones were pretty cool. I amused myself by adding my own commentary to their Korean. Most of it involved them being a sperm, a leprechaun, and a blue power ranger I think.

 

 

Horrendous shot of the holograms in context! They jumped around the room, it was pretty cool!

 

 

As there always is in these educational exhibits, there was one of these rooms where you turn handles to light bulbs, push buttons to move trains, etc etc. This was some kind of "use your weight to do cool shiz" area. I stepped on the scales and it told me my weight. Jeff, Chris and Brian each stood on it (not all at once, I should add), and it told them "OVERLOAD". *smug*

 

 

Wow, I actually DID take a picture of Horror Express, just much later in the day! I took a coaster shot! I feel like I just destroyed my whole anti-geek image! Did Jeff borrow my camera??

 

 

EPCOT much?

 

 

Spaceship Earth, and a somewhat similar design to the Imagination pavilion there. (Though Imagination is more pyramid-like, right?)

 

 

This picture has no purpose in the context of the report.

 

 

It's all quite cool looking, and a lovely place to wander around and kill time. Strange to see the building sites and stuff so nearby though, and it's actually sad that all these gorgeous buildings are there and there's NO patrons there at all. Apart from us, obviously. This was seriously another park where I don't think I saw more than two non-TPR people there the whole afternoon.

 

 

I like the reflection of the clouds on the building.

 

 

Another "Spaceship Earth" picture. Obviously this picture shows much better that it isn't a true copy or anything close to one, the panels are totally and utterly different, this one is a smooth surface, pretty much.

 

 

Haha, bug and robot section. Grasshopper.

 

 

This whole robot courtyard was somewhat creepy. I think Jeff has a really funny picture somewhere of me being, erm, defecated by some kind of creature.

 

 

Is this your dino? And Wes, can we set it on fire?

 

 

One of my better photographic efforts, I feel.

 

 

FACEBOOK SHOT!!! (Hi Ed!) What is that behind me?! It looks like a hoover!

 

 

That evening we had what I deem to be the best food I had in Korea. Bibimbap is a dish of rice, beansprouts, vegetables, etc, served in a RED HOT ("Bowl hot!") stoneware bowl, with a raw egg dumped on top of it right before they bring it to you. You mix in the egg with your chopsticks and obviously it quickly cooks in the hot rice and bowl. It's an awesome way to eat, with risk of burning!

 

 

Miles, Tom, Young Jeff and I seem to be enjoying!

 

 

The meal is served with kimchi, some kind of cabbage soup, chili paste, and all kinds of other goodness.

 

 

There's an obvious over-used joke here that I refuse to use... Ahhh, sod it: It's Steve. THROUGH THE TREES.

 

 

Brian and Chris had eaten all their chilli paste and were actually requesting more. I believe the chef was so shocked he had a heart attack.

 

 

Okay, I have no idea whether tonight was stalker shot night or something, but I have all kinds of random pictures here! I'm only including this one because I want to remember whether this was the night Kristen was "kidnapped" or not?!?! Because the Korean restaurant staff wanted Elissa to be able to eat?? I'm amused by how terrifying it is that people think it's acceptable to walk off with a baby. Anyway.

 

 

Outside the restaurant getting ready to get back on the bus. This picture wins the award for "Most unintentionally funny shot Lou took on this whole trip". If you can guess why (hint, look where Chris's hand is and what it's scratching/readjusting), then... I dunno, email Dan or post your answer or something.

 

 

I wasn't going to include this next series of photos, but in the end I decided "what the hell". So the journey back to the hotel was planned to take around 50 minutes, maybe an hour. At some point, we basically hit a standstill, and then began CRAWLING along in Seoul traffic. I don't remember exactly how long it ended up taking us to do the journey, which was maybe 50 miles?? But I'd guess at around two-and-a-half/three hours? Guys? At some point, boredom kicked in, and Jeff and I had to find a way to entertain ourselves.

 

I apologise profusely to anybody I woke up on this journey when Jeff and/or George tickled me, and I screamed in laughter. I just remember ten angry faces turning and glaring at me. I'm so loud, I'm sorry!!!

 

 

I'll let you guys guess what this thing is. I mean the thing on my head, not me.

 

 

So Jeff is now Bambi. And I'm... God only knows.

 

 

Jeff, you've never looked better, honey.

 

 

Neither has George!!!

 

 

I missed my ears, and stole them back.

 

 

Ahhhh, finally, back at the hotel. I found the signage incredibly funny. Don't get me wrong, the hotel was very nice and all, but "romanticism, happiness, fantasy" might be a bit much.

 

 

I hurt my neck taking this.

 

The only thing this hotel really lacked was... A BAR. Standing outside chatting in the middle of the night just isn't the same! Ah well. Good times all the same. And there was a random 7-11 type store a few doors down, so it's all good.

 

Next up, the last few Korean parks, then the final two updates: Back To California, then Back Home At Alton! And then my report shall be finished. *sniffle* Thanks for reading!

[ParkTrips]

you've been working on this for six months and now you're about to head off on another trip before finishing

 

Hotels without bars suck. And Chris sucks. And I like your trip reports because they can be so damn random (plus its not just filled with coaster porn)

 

btw, the pic of Jeff smoking was amazing for some reason.

[Louise]

^ I know, I just realised "WOW, I started this in 2007"..... This is why I don't do trip reports, I totally 100% FAIL at keeping up with them. Ah well, nearly done, and I *WILL* finish it before going to Europe, I have three updates left, and three days including today... Another tonight, one tomorrow, and one Friday. So there.

[Moose]

Don't sell yourself short. This is a trip report of epic proportions, I am amazed you are still going at it. (Look at how many I have done, or, more accurately, not done.)

 

Seeing you and others in parks makes me really look forward to this weekend.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

I too am happy that you are continuing the report Lou. But why is it that you have that photo! I could have sworne I deleted it off your camera! lol

[Louise]

^ No, it was this one you deleted.

 

 

 

 

[SharkTums]

Chris, there were plenty of pix of you adjusting yourself...perhaps you didn't delete all of them!

 

Lou, that WAS the night that they took KT!!! And brought her into the kitchen!!!

[COASTER FREAK 11]

^^ Well yes, there was that one as well. LOL, its so bad, I dont know what I was doing.

 

^...Yes, I know.

[Louise]

The rest of South Korea...

 

This update will probably be absolutely massive, so I apologise for how long this page might take to load!!

 

The next morning, outside Everland, Brian and I had a can of much-needed Confidence!! The description on the can was classic. Apparently it's an energy drink, though it didn't taste much like the ones I'm used to. Was pretty good though!

 

 

Eagle's Fortress. When I was told there was an Arrow suspended coaster here... I was pretty much expecting it to be crap. Or at least very "meh". But it was amazing! There was even a decent amount of airtime, which I find rather baffling! Great ride, I loved it! Fantastic setting too, swinging through the trees.

 

 

I love pictures within pictures. This was on the long walk around the zoo area of the park to the woodie construction site.

 

 

I'll admit that although I was grateful for the opportunity, construction tours aren't really my thing. My general rule is that until I can ride it, I'm not really interested. Having said that, I do enjoy seeing how things are put together, and was fascinated by the process. Mostly though I was happy watching the group crowd around the entrance.

 

 

What later became T-Express.

 

 

Wheeeee!!

 

 

Behind the scenes of a TPR video! Robb was excited to touch Intamin wood.

 

 

I thought of Balder. And then I missed Sweden. I very much like this shot, but for some reason although I rotated it, it uploaded sideways. It's 2.30am so I'm not rotating it, you'll all have to just tilt your heads ninety degrees.

 

 

Myself, Jeff, Mike, and Brian (who I accidentally cut off, sorry Brian!) on the ski-lift up to the upper level of the park. I don't think Jeff liked this part, which surprised me somewhat...

 

 

Up at the top, we rode some kind of Arrow looper which was extremely intense! Everything went grey for me, and I know a few people came close to blacking out on it. Apart from the intensity, I actually don't remember whether I liked this coaster or not, though I'm assuming it was neither horribly rough nor incredibly smooth, as either one would probably stick in my mind!

 

 

Advice for life from the kids' storybook land!

 

 

I like cows.

 

 

I'm special!!! I got 2nd prize, yay!! (Not that you can tell, as Jeff somehow cut the bottom of the stand off... Grrrr!! )

 

 

Yay! This was taken in the entry for a Korean Small World type boat ride, which was hilarious for soooo many reasons. I took a ton of pictures of a horrendous Queen Elizabeth doll amongst other things, but they all came out as blurs so I won't waste the space. Rest assured that this ride is pure unadulterated amazingness though!

 

 

Everland was really a beautiful park.

 

 

Pretty fountain areas.

 

 

Bunnies!! Awwwww!!! So, Jeff and I decided to do the park's Safari ride, but it upset me (I won't dwell on it, but I'm not a fan of performing animals, put it that way), so we had to go to the petting zoo and aviary to cheer me up, yay!

 

For a small amount of Won, you could get some seed to attract the budgies. I love budgies!!

 

 

This is what happens when you add double the seed!

 

 

Suddenly I started feeling like Tippi Hedren!! I think there are about 7 on my hand at this point... When the 9th one landed, they all started leaving!!

 

 

Proof that space and animals really DO go together.

 

 

The park was setting stuff up for Halloween. The photo doesn't do this backdrop justice, it was really well done.

 

 

Leaving Everland, we headed back to Lotteworld, to try and get that elusive Aquatrax credit we'd missed on our first day there. Oh, and to ride the most fantastic copyright infringing ride EVER.

 

 

Horrible example of photography of the Aquatrax. And it's line. I actually don't remember now how long we waited for this... I wanna say a little under two hours?? Then less the second time, in the evening? Not too bad anyway, considering. It was good fun, I really liked it a lot! Good theming, speedy little thing too, and trying to stick my hand in the water was fun, even though I ended up with a HORRIBLE bruise under my arm from the side of the train. I didn't succeed in sticking my hand in, though I think some kid who rode near Elissa might have done a better job of it.

 

 

I enjoy food resting on top of drink. Mmmmm, mozzarella balls. If only it had been Coke instead of Pepsi!!

 

 

There was something about Lotteworld's castle that reminded me of something, but I'm really not sure what....

 

On a totally unrelated note, I was amused that the theater next door to the park had a Disney's The Lion King performance going on that night.

 

 

Just for you, BeemerBoy!!

 

 

Their logo is kinda familiar too.... What does it remind me of?? Weird!!

 

 

Speeding through to the next day...

 

Seoul Land!

 

 

Dinosaurs. IN SPACE. I seem to remember this movie was awful, by the way. And didn't one of us leave something in the theatre and have to go back?!?! I need a new memory, I swear.

 

 

Are Miles and Steve horrendously hungover, or still drunk from the night before? You decide.

 

 

"Lou, wake me when we're going in..."

 

 

Showoff here had to go and win a prize, didn't he. Then when I ask him to play for me and win one for me, suddenly he's all "oh no, I can't shoot, I'm crap, I keep missing!"

 

 

Another park with gorgeous scenery. And a Dunkin' Donuts, where myself and the two Jeffs all ended up going for brunch!

 

 

What is that I see?! More imitation Disney icons?! NEVER!! I love these geospheres, I think they're stunning.

 

 

Funhouse!!

 

 

Teehee.

 

 

My dad has explained to me how this works. But I still don't get it. I just like to think it's magic. Hey, there has to be magic, we're at a park with a Disney icon!!

 

 

This made me sad. Have I mentioned that I miss Japan?

 

 

Hi Ryan!

 

 

Cool random gold skyscraper on the way to the next park.

 

 

Children's Grand Park was totally not what I was expecting, but was okay. They had either two or three coasters there, but only one running, which was fine, but there wasn't much else there that interested me, so I ended up tagging along with Brian and Chris and going to explore a little bit before heading back to the coach.

 

 

The park wasn't in a great area, but it was quite charming really!

 

 

I thought the statues and the flowers were very pretty.

 

 

There were lots of office buildings and the like around, and a lot of these structures at the entrances. I like tradition blended with modernity.

 

 

Here's another.

 

 

And another traditional building, with nice surrounding fountain and gardens. And rock.

 

 

The doggie Jeff won on his shooting game!

 

 

We also stopped at Marine World this afternoon, VERY quickly, though I didn't take any pictures. Basically, we all rode this terrifying looping coaster they had that I was convinced was gonna fall apart and kill us all at any moment, we rode their Bouncy Bouncy (with Chris and I sitting backwards so I got crushed for extra fun, though this Bouncy Bouncy did not deliver when compared with Zaragoza's, I seem to remember it played amazing music though!), then left!

 

 

For the goodbye dinner, we had Korean barbecue again (MMMMMMMMM!!), this time on tables and chairs for those in our group with bad knees!

 

 

I don't know what I like best in this photo: The lady's face as she clearly wonders what the hell she did to deserve such a rowdy group of annoying patrons, Robb's face just being Robb's face, or Kristen holding the spoon.

 

 

We likey the BBQ!

 

 

And it seems apt to finish with a picture of our fantastic Korean tour guide, Emily, who was there with us every step of the way! For those of you who haven't read anything about her, Emily had never ridden a coaster and was basically terrified of everything, but we got her started slowly, and she ended up loving it, riding a lot of stuff actually, and even doing a skycoaster!! She was great fun and really patient, answered so many questions and taught us loads of stuff. She wrote a lovely card and had it printed for all of us at the end of the trip too, thanking us for "giving her courage".

 

 

The journey back to the US was hellish for me, as I recieved some bad news on the way, but I at least had something to look forward to: A final day at DLR, which will be the next (and penultimate!) installment.

 

Sorry this post was so huge!!!

[TheRapidsNerd]

Great update!

 

Are Miles and Steve horrendously hungover, or still drunk from the night before? You decide.

Got a good laugh out of that pic an caption and Emily getting her courage from you all is a cool story.

 

Oh, right. Lou........likes..........cows......ok got it.

[Absimilliard]

The Woobang Towerland sky jump was awesome! It was cheap too... due to the wristband, it was only 20000 (around 20$?) to do it. The freakiest part was when they tie you up, check you 2 times to make sure you're safe... then ask you to walk over the ledge! You're hanging there, Mission Impossible style, they take a picture of you... The guy then releases the cable and a few seconds later, you have a pretty rough landing on your two legs at the bottom! I don't regret doing it... I only had to miss a Boomerang credit for it!

[Noxegon]

And it seems apt to finish with a picture of our fantastic Korean tour guide, Emily, who was there with us every step of the way! For those of you who haven't read anything about her, Emily had never ridden a coaster and was basically terrified of everything, but we got her started slowly, and she ended up loving it, riding a lot of stuff actually, and even doing a skycoaster!!

 

Yeah, that was seriously imppressive. She seemed to enjoy it a lot too, though she did say that her legs were shaking afterwards which is not normal. Yes it is. I've done four Skycoasters now and they still do that to me every time. That's why I enjoy them so much

[RCFreak]

oh wow, this might actually be done by the time you leave, I'm so proud! I'm also sad we couldn't see each other again on your way home, but we'll see each other soon enough so I'm not worried.

[pagemaster_b]

The next morning, outside Everland, Brian and I had a can of much-needed Confidence!! The description on the can was classic. Apparently it's an energy drink, though it didn't taste much like the ones I'm used to. Was pretty good though!

 

Out of all the weird names for energy drinks, I still love the simplicity of "Confidence". It was sad that the vending machines were cleaned out when we left Everland. I wanted another one!!!

[RaptorBoyASU]

This picture right here is my NIGHTMARE

 

I'm TERRIFIED of birds, even budgies........

[Moose]

^any reason for this fear?

(I still need to print out a mini-Kyle)

 

^^ That ended up being a good pic of you. Not that I have ever met you to know for sure, but that will soon change.

[Louise]

This picture right here is my NIGHTMARE

 

I'm TERRIFIED of birds, even budgies........

 

Damn it, I'd forgotten about your phobia or I would have mentioned something about it in the caption instead of making a Tippi Hedren reference!! I remember that being in a trivia contest in Spain!! I love birds, though I'll admit to being intimidated by birds of prey with big claws! Budgies, canaries, stuff like that though, I want to keep! When I'm rich and famous I'll have a massive aviary. I'll just have to keep it hidden when Kyle comes to visit.

[BeemerBoy]

Damn it, I'd forgotten about your phobia or I would have mentioned something about it in the caption instead of making a Tippi Hedren reference!!

 

I liked the reference, even though it was my least favorite of his movies. And yes, birds are awesome.

[Louise]

^ That film scared the crap out of me when I was younger. Did you catch your monorail picture? I was like "oh wow, apparently I took a picture of the monorail, must post it for Scott!" It's your niche.

[BeemerBoy]

^ No, somehow I actually missed that shout out the first time I scrolled through. Hmm, how did I miss that?

 

Love ya for that, Lou!

 

And did you hear they're doing a remake of The Birds? I think Naomi Watts is playing the Hedren role. Normally, I have issues with Hollywood doing remakes of classics, but since it was my least favorite of his, I really haven't given it much thought. Now if they mess with Vertigo, that's a different story.

[RIP Psyclone]

^ High Anxiety?